Reproduced with permission of The Journal News.
Letter to the Editor: Board needed to review town development
Greenburgh desperately needs a means to control "urban sprawl" that is not subjected to political decisions. The lack of such power has permitted tasteless design, commercial construction in unsuitable locations, public buildings with limited programs and inadequate budgets, projects that add to our unbearable traffic:
At the comer of Underhill Road and Central Avenue, there is a badly designed and shoddily constructed dental office that looks like a mausoleum.
At the south side of Underhill Road, a house under construction into the side of a steep hill does not seem to have a usable front yard, rear yard, driveway or garage.
At White Plains Road (Route 119), there are three existing large hotels, one large hotel under construction and two newly proposed six story large hotels to be built on wetlands in the same general area.
At two-lane West Hartsdale Avenue near Dobbs Ferry Road, there are two existing large schools and two newly proposed large schools within a radius of one-half mile. The potential for combined traffic overload is very real.
Under construction and planned are two town public buildings that do not provide sufficient services and shelter. the multi-purpose building and the public works garage.
A board of design professionals with authority to provide such control, with no ties to local politics, whose main interest is in improving town "quality of life," maintaining and increasing town real estate values, should be considered.
JOSEPH KIELL
Hartsdale
The writer is an architect and engineer.